Good sound in a questionable design

When you think of “true wireless earphones,” chances are your mind goes straight to AirPods. The all-white buds from Apple that have pretty much universal popularity.

Crazybaby aims to change that with the Air 1S. These new true wireless earbuds (“true” because there’s no cable connecting the buds to each other) double down on providing great sound with a tiny design.

The Air 1S earbuds are a follow-up to Crazybaby’s flagship Air, which launched in 2017. Those earbuds were “the world’s first carbon nanotube wireless headphones,” a reference to the material in the speaker drivers. Crazybaby than made the earbuds more portable without sacrificing sound in the $99 Air Nanos.

Crazybaby is pricing these Air 1S earbuds at $159 (exactly the same as AirPods, natch) with a charging case that’s similar to the original Air.

But in a market where AirPods are so dominant, is there room for an equally priced Crazybaby Air 1S?

A not-so-portable case with a suggestive design

The Crazybaby Air 1S earbuds live in a long tubular carrying case about the length of an iPhone X. It immediately reminded me of the mind-wiper from  Men in Black. Generally the tubular design is awkward — you can’t just hold it in your front or back pants pockets. In comparison to AirPods, it’s a little annoying that the case is so much larger; you really need to throw it in a bag if you’re going to carry it around.

The earphones themselves come in Star Gray or Space Silver; I’ve been testing the gray ones. Each earbud is about the size of a quarter, and the weight is pretty much negligible. For a true wireless headphone, this is key. Even better: at times, you forget that you have them in your ears.

The design of the Air 1S means the physical earbud sits nestled in the ear canal, while the rest of the driver and battery portion sits in the outer ear canal. It’s pretty comfortable after a few minutes of wear. Since these are quite compact, they don’t stick out and are less noticeable at first glance than AirPods.

In the case, the left and right buds have designated spots inside the case for charging, and they’re specific, meaning the left bud won’t fit in the right bud spot. You can open and close the charging compartment from the top of the case with a quick circular twist and pull. From there you place the buds with some precision and then slide the case closed. There is no track or guide for the Air 1S, just the charging prongs. To make sure the charge has started, wait for the buds to glow red.

The bottom of the tubular case has a USB-C port (a cord comes in the box) for charging. I found that with the case and earbuds fully charged, you can get through a workday or about 12 hours of use. However, this is entirely dependent on the type of music. More on that later.

Connecting to the Air 1S

Here’s where the story gets a little less smooth. As with any Bluetooth headphones, the Air 1S buds involve a pairing process, and I hit a few bumps on that road.

When you first open the case, you see the two buds and a large button with the Crazybaby logo on each of them. You need to hold the button on both buds down for a few seconds to turn it on or off. It would be nice if holding the button on either one would shut off both.

The Air 1S showed up in my My iPhone X’s Bluetooth settings fairly quickly. The interesting thing is, in addition to paring to your device, you need to pair the left and right bud together and sync them. For this, you need to have them near each other and double-tap the button on each of them simultaneously. The lights will flash 3 times when paired and then will continue flashing two times every 5 seconds. From there you should be set.

While playing music on the Crazybaby Air 1S, for the most part, didn’t cause issues, there were a few times where the connection cut out for 1-2 seconds and then came back in. I removed the Air 1S and repaired them, but this still happened a few times over a week of testing while streaming music from Spotify or Apple Music.

Crazybaby splits up the controls by putting play and pause on the right-hand side, with more utility features on the left-hand side. Answering phone calls and using Siri is done through the left bud. The right-hand side handles playback and can even rewind a track. Interestingly enough, there’s no volume control on the units themselves; you will need to control the level from your phone.

An extra sweat- and rain-resistant coating

While the earbuds are small in design, Crazybaby put an extra coating of resistance to sweat and water on the Air 1S. More specifically, these headphones are IPX6-rated.

I put the rating to the test with a few runs. While I don’t have hyperhidrosis, I definitely worked up a sweat, and I tested the Air 1S rigorously. My experience: You can confidently wear these both in the gym and in the rain.

In addition to an IPX6-rated design out of the box, Crazybaby includes larger clear silicone protective coverings to go around each earbud. While some people may enjoy these, I found they were tighter in the ear and less comfortable. 

There are also more traditional small back earbud tips that fit more like the ones pre-installed. This way you can find a size that’s comfortable for your ear. 

These pump up the bass

While the overall design at times can be a bit awkward, the earbuds sound fantastic. High, low, and midrange notes sound very clear. And bass is really surprisingly good for an earbud this size. 

I threw a number of different songs at the Crazybaby Air 1S, and it handled almost all of them with ease. I started off with some studio tracks like “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen. With these, the opening snare drum came through crisp and led into the classic medley that combines several guitars, a piano, and horns. The vocals were clear as well. 

A track like Alessia Cara’s “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s Moana really shows off the clear stereo sound. The opening medley and light bass tones come in from both sides before the vocals arrive with a slow hum in behind — then the more powerful drumbeats kick in. This song has several vocal layers, low and high tones, with a bass that is mixed in clearly throughout.

In all the tracks I played, the bass comes through. For EMD, pop, rap, and rock tracks, the earbuds play well. In that, the bass gets raised, and it’s noticeable, and the drumbeats can come down hard. With classical music and more vocally focused tracks, this mix doesn’t work as well. You’ll likely find that the bass and drums will be too loud and cover up vocals along with lower tones. Also, since there’s no companion app with Crazybaby, you can’t customize the sound to your liking. 

Battery life falls flat

Like AirPods, the Air 1S charge via the case, but the process of getting them to charge can be an issue. 

The first few times I charged the Air 1S buds, I didn’t place them in the case correctly. There isn’t a track for the buds to sit on, but rather prongs for charging and magnetic force. There isn’t the satisfying click assuring you that Air 1S are charging like the AirPods. Instead, the Crazbabys glow red when the charging process is working. Watch for that.

Crazybaby claims a grand total of 12 hours of battery life (case+buds) and that’s around what I got. But the buds themselves last around 3 hours with the volume around 75%. With the volume higher, you’ll notice a much faster drain. Three hours of listening on the Air 1S falls 2 hours short of AirPods’ rated battery life, which achieves 5 hours. With the case, though, you can extend the total listening time with some recharges to 12 hours.

A drum noise will sound when you’re on fumes (about a minute to go), and that’s the only warning. When this occurs while you’re walking through a city of standing on a train, it is an added nuisance. It would be nice if there was some customization to choose when you get the low-power alert.

The price for truly wireless

At $159, the Crazybaby Air 1S are the same cost of AirPods and slightly more than the Beats X. What you’re getting are truly wireless earbuds that are less noticeable when in your ears, but have an awkward carrying case that’s not so portable.

In this market, I think for the $159 price you should get the full package in terms of a nice design encompassing the whole product. AirPods offer a better package as the carrying case is much smaller with more battery life and can easily come with you.

The Air 1S earbuds do get the job done and sound great, albeit with slightly louder bass tones. However, the pairing process and poor battery life can’t outweigh those. If you really want a smaller more discrete earbud that can handle beat drops, these might be worth looking at. For everyone else, I say look towards AirPods.